Reviews

After doing some saree shopping along Fraser street, my friends and I decided to get a quick bite before heading home. Since reading some great reviews about Angel Cake Cafe here, I couldn't wait to try it. The ambiance is like any other HK cafe-style restaurant. Before entering, I noticed a breakfast menu posted outside, which is exactly what I craved. After being seated, I asked the waitress if they still served breakfast. Being 7pm, I was hoping it was all-day thing like some other restaurants. She looked at me and said really rudely, "Breakfast? That's morning." and walked away. Wow, I thought. What great service. Luckily, Benny our server was nice.
We all ordered their hot pan specials. At only $10.95 you get garlic toast, soup, choice of two meats w/ choice of sauce, veggies and baked potato, spaghetti or rice, a drink and dessert! What a great deal! Apart from the fact that they deep-fry all the meats, it was a pretty good dinner. The chicken I ordered was dripping in oil still.
It was a pretty decent meal at a great price, but I don't think I'll be making any special trips just to eat here.

My friends took me to have dimsum here this past Saturday. It was my first time here and I had no idea how big the place was! They had to open the restaurant up in sections. We were seated in the far end of the restaurant which was dimly lit. As more people strolled in, they finally turned on the lights.
Although the food here is fairly cheap at only $2.38 per dish, it wasn't close to being spectacular. The service really lost points here. I understand how hard it is to be a server and how stressful it could be, but the restaurant had just opened (9:30am) and she was already in a bad mood. She was pushing around rice bowls and I noticed that she was taking orders for select people, but when I went to ask about spareribs on rice, she looked at me and rudely said, "I don't have any!" and walked away.
Also I noticed that after we got there, the cart pushers didn't even bother to come to our table. I guess we looked too "canadianized" and thought we didn't know our dimsum.
There are plenty other dimsum places in town, but being the Floata, I expected better. I could spend my money on better things.

It's always hard to decide where to go for lunch on Sundays. Since my girlfriends and I were already at Metrotown, it was a toss-up between cheap breakfast at The Boss, or AYCE sushi. We stopped by Sui Sha Ya (by force: 2 against 1 vote) Lucky for me, girlfriend-L had already eaten and just wanted to snack and since it was either AYCE or a la carte and not both, we decided to go elsewhere. We went to Taisho and their AYCE wasn't available until 4:30pm, but because we were already so hungry, we decided just to have a la carte. It was a complete waste of money here too. After we sat, we waited and had to ask for tea (we had to ask for tea during our entire meal). Girlfriend-L had tuna tataki salad which was a great deal for only $4.95, but the seared tuna was a little fishy tasting. It looked like they just took pieces of already-prepared tuna sashimi slices and just seared the edges. Girlfriend K ordered a small sushi boat, but also couldn't finish it as that wasn't too fresh either. I ordered the miso-ramen combo w/ gyoza. Mine came last so I was so excited for the first bite when it came. Absolutely horrified! I took a bite of the 'warm' pork and it was still icy in the middle! I immediately put it down. Cautiously went for the noodles next, and although it was hot, I still couldn't eat it remembering how fresh the pork was. It didn't feel safe to eat. The gyozas were salty as hell even w/o the dipping sauce. I told the server that I couldn't eat it and surprisingly, she took it off the bill w/o a fight. But when she came back to clear the table, she said, "You know, it's only the pork that was cold, the noodles are still ok to eat." I couldn't believe my ears! First of all, the pork shouldn't have been cold in the first place and why should pay $8 for food that is not properly prepared??
I would never recommend this place to anyone.

I came here for lunch last Friday as a group of 5. I hadn't been here in a long time prior to. Luckily, our group had good conversation which masked the lack of service. After we all got our food, the server only came back once to refill pop/water.
I ordered the pesto quesidilla which was excellent. I couldn't finish it and wanted to ask for it to be packed up, but it took some time to actually flag someone down.
I thought the section we were seated in was interesting. It was a separate section from the restaurant and was like sitting in a barn. There wasn't even flooring, just outdoor concrete. I'm still a little confused on how I felt about it. It was neat, but at the same time, cheap-looking. (like they ran out of money in the reno process and just built some walls to extend the restaurant space)
The dining experience was not excellent, but good enough for a nice lunch out. The food was good enough to make me return.

I used to pass Papa Dave's when I lived in New West, always with the intention of trying it out. Never got the chance to. Luckily, I still work close by and stopped in for lunch last week. It's not fantastic food, but for what you get and the price they offer, it's pretty outstanding. I would actually prefer to eat here than Pizza Hut or some of the other "big name" places. For only $3.99 at lunchtime, you get a very nice portion of lasagna. One could be satisfied and full for under $7.

At work, we've ordered from Tommy's a few times now. Everything is always fresh from sandwiches to salads. I've never had casual catering that was so professional. Usually other caterers would pack everything in styrofoam or plastic throw-away containers. Not Tommy's. Everything is always nicely presented on plates, glass bowls and even squirt bottles for dressings. Def. recommended, especially for catering.

I came here with my girlfriends for my birthday dinner this past Sunday. It was a toss up between Adega and here. Since I've been to Adega a few times, we decided to come here. We arrived at 7pm and noticed the restaurant was pretty empty. The ambiance was lacking in many areas. All the chairs in the restaurant were plastic fold-up banquet chairs which weren't very comfy at all. Not much donned the walls, but the best feature was the rack by the entrance displaying some Portuguese bakeware and some roosters. In the back was a huge over 42"-ish tv which was on sports channel the entire night.
The best thing of the night was the comp bread, but they only gave enough butter for half our party. On the other hand, it did come with a few slices of fresh cheese and olives.
I ordered the Bacalhua a casa which is a cod with potatoes in a tomato sauce. I loved the thin cut potato "chips", but could only swallow a few bites of the extremely salty cod. I understand that it is a dried salt cod, but it was seriously not edible. There was nothing to buffer the saltyness like rice, or vegetables. All my friends agreed that it was way too salty. A few others also mentioned that their chicken was pretty salty too. The entire meal came to $134 and split among 5 people at $30 was far from a bargain considering we had no dessert and we waited about an hour after ordering for our food. We left a bit after 9pm.
Tip to fellow diners: go to Adega instead.

My bf and I came here on my birthday and arrived at about 7pm. I was surprised to see that on that Friday night, it wasn't packed. I was almost glad that it wasn't so that we could enjoy a quiet dinner. There was one thing that set me off from the beginning. Out of all the tables in the almost empty dining room, we were squished into a tight corner right beside another couple. I asked if there was another table we could sit at and our server looked around and said all the other tables were reserved and she would pull out the table a little to make more room. Hmm...I made reservations a day ahead, what gave the other 2-person tables special priority?
I couldn't put my jacket on my chair because it was right up against the railing even after the server pulled out the table one whole inch to give me "extra room", so I had to put it on my bf's chair. He ordered the halibut from the antipasti section, a warm goat cheese salad from the appies and the roasted chicken as his main. He enjoyed the salad and the chicken and I had to agree his goat cheese salad was most excellent. A crusted warm thick slice of goat cheese on greens w/ a balsamic reduction.
I chose the chef's menu and started with warm bocconcini wrapped in proscuitto and risotto balls. Both were served on a bed of warm tomato sauce and were very tasty. For my main, I had the mahi mahi grill. I would have preferred a different sauce, but the simple lemon-citrus flavor was still good. For dessert, I chose the clafoutis, a french warm cake with white chocolate and berries. This was also good, but a little bit too sweet.
If I could, I would give the food rating a 3.5, but it was still worthy of a 4.
Mid meal, everyone started pouring in and since the tables are so close together, everyone's conversation overlapped each other and made it very hard to have a nice convo across the table. The couple we were squished next to was especially loud. Not very romantic saying "huh?" to your partner all throughout dinner.

I went to Beyond today for breakfast with my girlfriends. We wanted to try something other than our usual Joe's Grill breakfast. Since girlfriend L works at the hospital, she passes the breakfast/brunch sign for Beyond at every shift.
We've been to Century Plaza a few times before to enjoy the spa and have noticed their recent renovations to the entire lobby area. It looks like a million bucks! Unfortunately, I can't say the same for service at Beyond.
The prices are pretty good, but you'll notice a very limited menu.
We each ordered the Beyond breakfast for $7. Being used to Joe's portions, I couldn't help but feel a little ripped off here. As girlfriend K says, you're paying for the dishes and the renovations. $7 bought us 2 small poached eggs that were abnormally sour from the vinegar, a toothpick skewer of 1/2 a strawberry, a grape and a cherry, 2 nice sausages (best part of the meal) and a tiny helping of roasted shaved nugget potato. Oh yes, and toast. Weird that for 3 of us, they brought 7 halves of toast. (wondered how they calculated that one)
The service left little to be desired. She was nice and all but we didn't understand how 2-3 tables that were seated after us were served food before us?? By the time one couple were finished their meals and their plates were being taken away, we still haven't gotten ours yet? Lucky for us, we have great conversations to cushion the wait time. Unlucky for a couple that were seated beside us who experienced the same thing and were quite agitated by it.
It also took forever for our bill to come, then took more time for our change to come.

Eventhough Brentwood mall doesn't offer the best shopping experience, they do have a pretty good food court. One of my favorites is the Pita King. I always get their chicken schwarma platter. For just under $7, you get greek pita bread, rice or potato or both, choice of salad, a nice helping of chicken. and a drink. Great service, good food that feels more like a meal than a food court offering. Sometimes I even go to Brentwood just to eat here!

I've been to this Duffin's location many times before, but haven't been around in a while. Just recently, I went back for a torta sub for a friends and a donut for me. I also bought a dozen donuts for work the next day. Their hot tortas are always delicious. Unfortunately, the cinnamon fritter I got myself was too sweet and too cakey. The next day at work, I presented the donuts and quickly ran away in case they weren't very good so people wouldn't know it was brought in by me! Girlfriend A came by and told me how the donut was. I decided to give it a second shot and had one myself. The bavarian cream donut was so light and fluffy! In my opinion, much better (and bigger) than Krispy Kremes. At only $5.50/dozen, it's a steal!! Just don't get the fritters! I went for another sandwich last night (quick and cheap dinner at only $3.25). I got myself the Vietnamese chicken sub. It was hot, juicy and delicious.
What great about this place is that you can satisfy your hunger at any time of day since it's open 24hr. It's a one-stop shop giving you choices like donuts, sandwiches, breakfast, fried chicken, chinese food, etc. The eating area is quite large and well-lit, but what lost points for me was the crowd that hangs out here. Perverted middle-aged chinese men who gawk at every breathing female that walks in. It's no fault to the restaurant though.

I went to this location after picking up a friend from her hospital graveyard shift. It was about 7am and after 20 minutes of driving, we settled on this one. The server seemed half asleep still and wasn't too friendly. I ordered the basic breakfast with sausage and was surprised to see only 2 round disks of sausage the size of salami and sliced 2mm thin. I couldn't believe anybody would be full off of that. I know I wasn't.

I live by Pearl Drops and have always driven by the place wanting to try it out. I finally did that on Saturday night. I'm not kidding when I say this but, it's Tuesday, and I've been back for tea four times. I can't get enough!! Before I swore by Bubble World claiming them the gods of bubble tea. Now, I don't even think they should call themselves a tea house.
Pearl drops has a huge menu range from black teas, to green teas, to matchas, to fresh fruit drinks, to lattes. I am totally hooked on their "Iced Roiboos Tiramisu latte". What sets this place apart from all the other bubble tea houses is that they use real tea steeped from tea leaves in their drinks. And they steep their teas using steam!
At under $5 a drink, it doesn't burn a big hole in your pocket. And if you're like me who want to enjoy tea all the time, they sell loose tea as well. Give this place a try and you'll never go back to the other bubble tea places in town!
Look out for another Pearl Drops location opening soon.

You don't get your average white vanilla cake with choco frosting here. Anna's cake are absolutely heavenly. We often get cakes here for birthdays and the favorite would be the strawberry mango mousse cake. The cakes are smooth and not as sweet as most traditional cakes.
One time I was waiting for them to wrap up our cake and decided to try one of their century egg pastries. It's an acquired taste and not for the health conscience, but definitely really good.

I went to Calhoun's once before and have never been back. At the time, I thought it was such a cool place to hang out and chill, but my one experience there will haunt me forever.
I ordered nachos and was munching down. After about 3-4 bites, I reached for another and to my surprise, I found something hideous. A condom!!!!! Well, it was a finger condom, but it was just as gross. I started to panic thinking about the germs in that thing and asked to speak with a manager. I told him there was a condom in my nachos. He said, "WHAT?!" and looked at it. He chuckled and plainly said, "Oh, it's not a condom, it's a finger condom!" No duh, it's not a real condom, but regardless it shouldn't have been in my nachos!
Well, he didn't refund me my money and instead gave me a $20 gift certificate for the next time I come around...like that's going to happen.

I was lucky enough to try out this cafe for lunch with my sister since they are not open every day. It was a real good find, especially for my sister who loves green papaya salad, which was what she ordered. Having come back from Thailand, it was obviously not as good, but she still gave it satisfactory rating. I had the chicken with peanut sauce on greens. I normally love this dish, but thought the sauce was a little too thick for my liking. It almost had the consistency of watered down peanut butter and clumped more than it was smooth. The flavor was good though. I'm looking forward to be back to try their other items on their lunch menu. Too bad they are not open for lunch on the weekends.

A friend of mine lives a block away from Cafe Kathmandu and has always wanted to give it a try. Who else in town specializes in Himalayan/Tibetan cuisine?? So a bunch of us went there for dinner last night. It was a real pleasant experience trying out something new that wasn't that far off from the kind of food I like.
We got to the restaurant at 7pm and were the only ones there. The owner was very welcoming and accommodating from the start. Unfortunately, the smell of the restaurant left little to be desired. It smelled like cross between an old book store and a church. I was expecting a nice aroma from the curries stewing in the kitchen. Luckily, I kinda got used to the smell and didn't bother me at all after 20 minutes. The owner thanked us for visiting his restaurant and offered helpful suggestions and descriptions of the menu offerings. All the items on the menu are perfect for sharing and that was exactly what we did. We ordered a bunch of tapas-like dishes including roti, sesame-lemon potatoes, shredded pork simmered in spices, both steamed and fried chicken dumpling w/ chutneys, singadaa (samosa) and chicken chili. All were very tasty and delicious. We also shared 3 mains: daal, boneless chicken red curry and a potato w/ bamboo shoots and black-eyed peas.
Everything was really really good and spices were not overpowering. The owner packed up our leftover daal and included a nice helping of fresh rice.
All that food plus drinks only came to $68 for 5 people!! We left full and satisfied!!

Before heading to the theatres one night with my boyfriend, we decided to have some drinks at Caffe Sette. Being a regular "the Beat" listeners, this place was well-known to me as the place for "Java by day, Martini by night".
This cafe had a very nice cozy ambiance. Red dimmed lighting with booth seats, comfy couches, and tables. They also feature a live dj too. Although they serve snack like paninis and other small eats, we didn't have a chance to give those a whirl since we had already had dinner.
My boyfriend had an espresso and Vanilla Grey goose on the rocks, and I had the creamed Earl Grey latte. I must say, this was the best tea latte I have ever had!! It was so creamy and frothy that I constantly had widened eyes because I was so surprised how good it was. I regret not ordering a larger one because I finished mine in no time! The servers were friendly and I will definitely go back and give the food a try too!

I was at Fortune House this past weekend for a wedding reception. It was a smaller party of about 16 tables, so they closed half the restaurant for the reception. It was a standard 10-course meal which consisted of the regular wedding fare food: cold cuts, lobster, soup, fish, abalone, chicken, etc. The food was good, not excellent. I was pleasantly surprised by the service my vegetarian cousin received. She got all her courses served to her in impressive presentation.
Although the service was really good (all the servers were very nice including the reception coordinator), I couldn't help feel we were rushed through our meal. The food would arrive at our table and around the lazy susan it went, but by the very moment it reached the last person, a server would come by and quickly scoop left overs onto anyone's plate and took it away! So the last person taking their first helping never got a second. They did this all through out the night. Almost immediately after the sweet soup and biscuits arrived, they started wrapping up the restaurant by taking down divider walls. They would have received a 4-rating for service if it wasn't for their rushing.
Also have to mention that the bar area doubled as their office. The wall at the back was filled with colorful binders and cheap plastic office accessories. I didn't find this very professional looking, especially for a wedding.

After the fireworks on Saturday, my friend and I went for a late dinner. We decided to give this place a try since we had some time to kill waiting for some other friends. We got a table right away and placed our order after waiting about 10 minutes. My friend ordered a bunch of mini eats and I ordered a shoyu sapporo ramen. I don't know if the wait seemed longer because we were so hungry, but we waited a while before my friend got her gomae and small sashimi and sunomuno. She ate and finished. Nothing spectacular to comment on. Then we waited and waited. She felt hungry again and ordered a squid karaage.
By this time, I was seriously starting to wonder how long it takes them to pour soup over noodles and frozen corn. After, kid you not, about 35 minutes, we received my ramen and motoyaki. The taste of ramen was just ehhh. Didn't justify the long wait. I finished the noodles of my ramen and we again waited for the karaage. After a few minutes (about 20 min after we ordered it), it arrived glistening with oil. We had to pack it to go because 1) we were both finished with our meal, 2) it was way too hot, if it came with our meal, at least we could munch on other things waiting for it to cool. and 3) our other friends had finally arrived and there was no where for them to sit except on our laps.
Had a bite of the karaage after and it was not very good. Ended up throwing it away.